Vital Voices is a NGO that identifies, trains, and empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the globe.

The Middle East and North African Businesswomen’s Network (in 11 Middle Eastern Countries) aims to increase the number of women in business and the value of their businesses, to advance the role of women in society, and to promote a regional culture of women's entrepreneurship Partners annually with the U.S. State Department and FORTUNE Magazine to provide international emerging women leaders in business the opportunity to develop their leadership, management and...

Abdul Mohsen Al Husseini, an MIT Mechanical Engineering Master’s student and a 24 year old Jordanian national, received the inaugural 2010 Andoni Award for Young Arabs in Science and Technology. The award was presented during the 9th Annual Banquet of the Network of Arab American Professionals-New York last Saturday.

Music and politics have always gone hand in hand. From Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony (originally titled “Bonaparte”) to Public Enemy’s Fight the Power, artists have used music to echo the hopes, dreams, and frustrations of the people. The Arab world is no exception; it’s no coincidence that the Egyptian revolution of 1952 coincided with the rise of Arab greats such as Abdel Halim Hafez, Umm Qultum, and Mohammed Abdel Wahab. Umm Qultum rose to fame partly through songs inspired by the political revolution of Gamal Abdel-Nasser.

After last week’s stunning House vote rejecting the extension of key Patriot Act provisions, this week both the House and Senate passed extensions of those provisions. Those provisions include the “roving wiretap” provision, the “libraries provision,” and the “lone wolf” provision. The House sent the bill introduced by James Sensebrenner (R-WI) to the Senate by a vote of 275 to 144, granting a nine month extension to those provisions. 27 Republicans voted against the extension, including Arab American freshmen members of Congress, Justin Amash (R-MI) and Richard Hanna (R-NY). Congressman Amash released a statement following the vote stating...

Governor Mitch Daniels (R- Indiana) gave a compelling address to the attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this past Saturday. Attended by 10,000 or so prominent Republicans and by several viable presidential hopefuls, the CPAC gathering is often viewed as an opportunity to establish a profile of a possible candidacy. Branding himself as a pragmatic politician with an impressive fiscal track record, Daniels laid the ground work for what he hopes to be an effective GOP platform for the 49 other states to follow in the electoral college of 2012. Daniels cited the economic...

Governor Mitch Daniels (R- Indiana) gave a compelling address to the attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this past Saturday. Attended by 10,000 or so prominent Republicans and by several viable presidential hopefuls, the CPAC gathering is often viewed as an opportunity to establish a profile of a possible candidacy. Branding himself as a pragmatic politician with an impressive fiscal track record, Daniels laid the ground work for what he hopes to be an effective GOP platform for the 49 other states to follow in the electoral college of 2012. Daniels cited the economic...

Tuesday evening, the House voted against extending key Patriot Act measures. Those measures were the authorization for the FBI to continue using roving wiretaps on targets of surveillance; the “libraries provision” authorizing the government use “any tangible item” in surveillance; and the “lone wolf” provision, the Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act measure that permits surveillance of those who are not connected to an identified terrorist group. In the breakdown of the vote, surprisingly 26 Republicans and 122 Democrats voted against extending the above-mentioned measures. Freshman Congressman and Arab-American, Justin Amash (R-MI) was one of the 26 Republicans who voted...